The Firing Pin (Gun thread)

this is a discussion within the Everything Else Community Forum; High-tech, $20,000 TrackingPoint &#8216;smart rifle&#8217; turns anyone into a sniper
Hitting a target at 1,000 yards is a skill only possessed by a few elite snipers. But all that is about to change, thanks to a high-tech bullet guidance system ...

Hitting a target at 1,000 yards is a skill only possessed by a few elite snipers. But all that is about to change, thanks to a high-tech bullet guidance system created by Texas gun manufacturer TrackingPoint. For better or worse, almost anyone with $20,000 to burn can soon have the skills of a special forces assassin.
At the heart of TrackingPoint’s sophisticated firearms, dubbed the XactSystem, is the company’s “networked tracking scope,” which sports a color heads up display, and instantly monitors a wide variety of factors, including wind speed and direction, target distance, gravity, the rotation of the earth, and more, to calculate when and how to accurately fire the ammunition. TrackingPoint’s so-called smart rifles, which range from $22,500 to $27,500, even pack built-in Wi-Fi, which allows shooters to transmit live video of their shots to an iPad, then upload them to YouTube or social networks.

“They like to post videos; they like to be in constant communication with groups or networks,” TrackingPoint President Jason Schauble told NPR. “This kind of technology, in addition to making shooting more fun for them, also allows shooting to be something that they can share with others.”

Great technology but there are a few issues I have with it personally.

I cant find any evidence of "Bullet guidance" after it leaves the bore. Which means that it does not make a shooter an accurate shooter if he can not control his breathing and trigger squeeze. I see it being sold to the Military only IF it is durable and can with stand a combat environment, then there is an issue with the HUD in that the rifle becomes useless if for some reason it stops working. Lets say sub freezing temperatures where LCD's freeze.

Hunters that can afford it will buy it... Range shooters will not. Shooting for most is like golf, we do it for the challenge, the personal challenge of every shot being placed William Tell style on top of another. "If" it does what it says it does, it will be like a golf club that always hits a hole in one with one stroke... The entire 4 some will score the same. Not fun, just a novelty until it wears off.

Patrick Priebe, a German hobbyist with a knack for making laser weapons, has done it again and this time heís gone and built a Laser Gatling Gun.
Constructed out of durable aluminum, the gunís spinning turret boasts six 1.4-watt Class 4 blue lasers. For aiming purposes, a 100-mW green laser has been mounted on one side of the gun. Although it looks like it could blast through five layers of concrete and steel, the gun is only strong enough to pop balloons.
Four ball bearings spin the turret, which is controlled by a knob on the underside of the gun. Eight AA batteries power the aiming laser and motor, while the six blue lasers get their juice from four lithium-ion batteries.

Original Gatling guns were invented just prior to the Civil War and were some of the first rapid fire guns. Hand cranks were used to rotate six barrels and fired ammunition when each barrel reached the top slot. However, with Priebeís creation, the Gatling-like rotation is purely ornamental. Despite how cool it looks, the gunís rotation actually decreases the beamsí intensity, since lasers work by focusing on a single point with a heated stream of photons.

Smart gun technologies making weapons more accurate -- and more deadly

"Are there any legitimate gun owners who are calling for this technology for safety? I haven't heard of one," said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League, in a recent interview.
One example is a newly unveiled “supergun” from TrackingPoint that emulates the target-locking technology from jets to turn any rifle into an ultra-accurate sniper gun capable of consistently hitting a target from 1.75 miles away.
“With [this] technology, shooting a hunting rifle is like being a pilot in a fighter jet,” Jason Schauble, CEO of the Austin, Texas-based company, told FoxNews.com. “You tag a target, and lock onto it. Then you engage the target for a shot.”
'It won’t take years to learn to shoot long-range. Just minutes.'
- Jason Schauble, CEO of TrackingPoint
Other gun rights groups strike a more measured albeit still cautious approach.